Today I want you to find one area in your home that needs some taming down. We all have hot spots that require attention.Sometimes, we let the hot spot go until it is about to rage out of control in our homes. Let’s tame that chaos now!
My two youngest boys share a room. One of them likes to add big furniture to their room, and the other one likes to add lots of little stuff to their room. Before we get our school year in full swing, we are going to have some 15 minute Hot Spot Drills in their room and tame the chaos. Children’s rooms often get left to last when we are cleaning the house. Some of the best tips I have for you are to help them thin down the amount of toys and clothes they have in their rooms. I have tried to pare down their clothes to the essentials for each season, but that is still a lot of clothes when you consider play clothes, church clothes, underclothes, and pajamas. Then, when you multiply that times four boys, it is a lot of clothes to keep up with. They do help with laundry, and for the most part, they only wear one outfit a day. I remember well the days of multiple outfits when they were little.
We have also worked hard on our laundry habits this summer. When we do a load of laundry, it gets, washed, dried, hung or folded, and put away. That keep Mt. Washmore at bay, and it also helps me see where we still need to thin out their clothes. They have to be able to put their clothes away and shut the drawers and close the closet.
Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School Assignment
Home:
- Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
- Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
- Swish and Swipe
- Start Your Laundry
- Decide on Dinner
- Check Your Calendar
- Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.
- Clean out your refrigerator. Toss the science experiments.
School:
- Check the loss leaders at your local office supply stores. Many of them have cheap school supplies this week. I saw several items for 1 cent. Just go in and get the sale stuff. Don’t get caught up going down all the aisles.
Afternoon Routine:
- Eat Lunch
- Clear off One Hot Spot
- Reboot the Laundry
- Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
- Drink Your Water
- Write up a menu plan for the next 7 days. Check your pantry and freezer and make a grocery list. This habit will save you time and money. Try out some new recipes with the slow cooker. It will save you time once you start back to your school schedule.
- Zone Focus: Kitchen – My kitchen is my most-used room. We have our meals in the kitchen, and we do school in the kitchen. So it is used a lot. It also attracts clutter. Pick a hot spot in your kitchen and declutter. For some of you, that might be your kitchen table. For me, it is my island in the kitchen. It attracts clutter every day. So I have to work at keeping it cleaned off. The pay-off is that I have a nice place to prepare our meals when I keep it cleaned off.
Family Fun: If the weather is not too hot, go for a walk with your children.
Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)
- Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
- Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
- Decide on a place in your house where you can put things for the next day. The FlyLady calls this your Launch Pad. It is usually close to your main entry of the house. You are going to use this every night.
- Shine Your Sink
- Clean Off a Hot Spot
- Go to Bed at Decent Hour
